Messages. Actually LOL. OL.

Look forward to doing amazing new things with the app you use most. In iOS 8, Messages has fun, useful, even surprising features that will change the way you think about messaging.

Add your voice to the conversation.

Messages in iOS 8 makes it easy to capture any sound — your voice, a song or a big laugh — and make it part of the conversation. Simply touch and hold the new microphone button to record your message. Then swipe to send it.

Tap to Talk, then send instantly.

Touch and hold with your thumb to record your message, then swipe up to send it.

Lift to your ear to listen.

To hear a message, simply hold iPhone to your ear and listen like it’s a phone call. Or just tap the Play button.

Send a video quickly and easily.

The new Messages app lets you share what you’re seeing almost as you’re seeing it. Quickly send a video of your brother’s first time paddleboarding. Or your dad joining the fire dancers at the luau. When you do, you’ve said so much more than “Having fun on our holiday”. And you’ve said it in seconds.

Take charge of group messages.

Start a group conversation and give it a name like “Soccer Team” or “Road Trip”. Easily include who you want, drop who you don’t and leave the conversation whenever you want. Or turn on Do Not Disturb and then read through the messages when you have time.

Give your conversation a name.

Tap Details to name a conversation so you can easily find it again later.

Control the conversation. Politely.

In Details, you can add and remove people from the conversation — or leave it yourself.

Share your location in the middle of the conversation.

“Where are you?” Answer that question more clearly than ever with a map showing your location. You can also share your whereabouts with people you choose for an hour, until the end of the day or indefinitely. And you can see people in the message thread on a map if they’ve shared their locations.

Sharing is easy.

Tap to choose how long you’d like to share your location.

So that’s where everyone is.

When your friends choose to share their locations, you see them all on one map.

Tap to see every attachment from a conversation.

It’s simple to browse the photos and videos within a thread. You’ll see all the photos and videos going back to the very first exchange, without having to scroll through earlier messages.

Send multiple photos and videos at once.

In Messages, tap the camera icon to see the most recent photos in your Camera Roll. Select the ones you want to share and tap Send. It’s that easy. Want to send older photos? Tap Photo Library and select the shots you want.